A friendship coach discusses the challenges.
I had the pleasure of interviewing Danielle Bayard Jackson about female friendships, including the challenges of making friends in our mid-20s and beyond. Danielle’s book on women and friendships will be available in 2024.
Does the way a person is brought up or the way that their parents handle conflict determine how they handle conflict with friends?
Sometimes my clients speak to that explicitly — “I don’t know; in my house, we were just quiet for a long time, and then my mom will bring me dinner, and then I know we’re over it.” I think that for some cultures, that is how we agree to move forward — “I cut fruit up for you, and that says I love you.” And there’s an understanding. And maybe that is sufficient for some people and some dynamics. But I’m noticing if conflict was explosive in your house, you may have learned to be quiet to “make it go away.”
